


New Perspective

by anakien



Category: Death Note & Related Fandoms, Death Note (Anime & Manga)
Genre: AU, Accounting, Flashbacks, Friendship, Gen, Humor, Wammy's House (Death Note), Yagami Light is Kira, Yotsuba Arc (Death Note), we meet more of wammy's graduates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:02:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25269544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anakien/pseuds/anakien
Summary: Light meets another one of L's genius colleagues.
Relationships: Amane Misa & Original Female Character(s), L & Yagami Light, Matsuda Touta/Original Female Character(s), Yagami Light & Original Character(s), Yagami Light & Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 15





	1. Meet P

**Author's Note:**

> Another Death Note story! And my first with an OC from Wammy's House. Wish me luck.
> 
> This was born because I wanted to make my own Wammy's House OC (as described below in the end notes). I also wanted to see more investigation into the Yotsuba group. Sure, Matsuda spies on them directly and overhears them discussing Kira, but I want to see the financials and other evidence they collected before that point.
> 
> Italics represent thoughts, and some of the dialogue from the beginning of the chapter comes from episode 18 of the show. I don't own anything/anyone DN related (except for this version of P).
> 
> Enjoy and R&R, please!

_What is this?_ Light thinks to himself, leaning slightly more towards his computer screen. _This is new..._

Light looks to his left. L sits in his chair, moping with his eyes closed and a sucker in his mouth. He sighs - sometimes this feels more like a babysitting role then an investigation.

"Ryuzaki, I know you're not feeling up to it, but come over here for a second. Take a close look at this. It can't be coincidence."

L opens his eyes and lolls his head over to look at Light, but he rolls his chair over next to Light's workstation.

"All of them were prominent Japanese businessmen, CEOs whose companies were leaders in their respective industries. And in just over a month, they all died of heart attacks."

Light sneaks a look at L, who is visibly perking up.

"As expected, there's been a general downturn in the market with the exception of Yotsuba. In other words, their deaths have worked in Yotsuba's favor. Looking back, there have been thirteen similar deaths in the past three months. Your thoughts?" Light turns back to L, tilting his computer screen towards L. "Based on this, I can only conclude that Kira is supporting Yotsuba."

L hums and takes the lollipop out of his mouth. "Could be. But if what you're saying is true, we can assume that punishing criminals is not this Kira's real intent."

"Right. Punishing criminals is a diversion for him. It obscures the fact he's actually killing people for the benefit of his company." Light makes a satisfied noise, pleased with his findings. "Are you feeling a bit more motivated now?"

L doesn't respond to that, but the brightness in his eyes reveals his true feelings on the matter. "Send me every financial record you can find for Yotsuba." L pops the lollipop back in his mouth and rolls his chair back over to his laptop.

"On it," Light says, already downloading the files and loading them for transfer.

L's laptop dings. He leans in, nose almost pressed to the screen, and rapidly presses the down arrow key to scan the files. Light watches in amazement.

 _There's no way he really reads that fast, right?_ he thinks.

In one sudden movement, L shuts his laptop and swings out of his chair, startling Light out of his thoughts. "I need more data," he says, words mumbled around his candy.

"Ryuzaki, I just gave you everything you need to know," Light says.

"Not quite. It is rather impressive you found this, but neither you or I have much experience with understanding the language of business."

Light watches silently as L makes his way to the wall and punches in a code into a keypad hidden behind a towering stack of donuts. A drawer in the center of the wall extends out, and L walks over to fish out a small cell phone. The chain jerks on Light's wrist, and he leans forward so L can have enough slack to freely move.

L snags a donut on his way back to his seat, sticking his sucker through the hole in the center. He sits back in his chair and takes a bite of the donut, getting crumbs all over the phone. He ignores them to flip open the top and press a button.

Light watches in a mix of disgust and curiosity. L holds the phone up to his ear, chewing loudly.

Light can faintly hear the ringing on the other side, and then a female voice picks up.

"Hello P, this is L," L says, swallowing his bite.

The voice on the other side says something Light can't make out.

"Yes, something along those lines," L says. "How fast can you get to Japan?"

There's a squawking on the other side, and L winces, holding his phone even further from his ear. When the noise dies down, he lowers it back into place.

The voice says something else, and L turns to the projector screen to look at the time. "That will be fine. Please call Watari to discuss the finer details. We will debrief you when you arrive."

He clicks the phone shut, sets it down on the table, and turns back to his donut.

"What was that?" Light asks.

L startles, turning back to Light as if he'd forgotten he was sitting there. "That was a colleague of mine. She's a CPA, a certified public accountant. Though, I suppose it's only called that in America. You would know her role as that of a chartered accountant."

"You're bringing on an accountant into the Kira investigation?" Light asks in disbelief.

"P has training as a forensic accountant. I trust her competence in financial investigation more than either of ours."

"But don't we already have evidence that points towards the Yotsuba executives?"

L sighs. "Yes, but I want data from the companies of the executives who have presumably been killed by Kira, as well as the tax returns of the Yotsuba group's upper management. I want to know why exactly this new Kira has been chosen."

"Wait, hold on a second. You think this Kira was chosen?"

"The second Kira, while also demonstrating a different reason for the killings, did not appear to be chosen by the original Kira. After months of silence, what seems to be the power of Kira is back. If this Kira was simply random, as we presume the second Kira to be, there would be no reason to kill criminals. This Kira would simply just kill his economic competition."

"Couldn't the Yotsuba Kira be killing criminals to cover their tracks?"

"I have considered this, but I find it unlikely. A set number of criminals are killed every day, and some of them are even for minor crimes that the original Kira would not stoop to. These criminals' deaths seem to fill more of a quota than the others."

"Interesting," Light says, tapping his cheek as he thinks it over. "By looking at specific tax returns, you think we can single out the most likely member to be Kira."

"Precisely. We do not know how this Kira got this opportunity. Was he bribed? Was it through extortion? Was it even random, and all of this is irrelevant?" L turns his gaze back to Light. "P will be able to answer these questions for us."

Light nods. "I guess until then I'll keep track of the general market trends. How long will it be before she arrives"

L checks the time on the monitor again. "Approximately twenty-six hours, including her flight and transportation here."

"That's not a whole lot of time," Light says. L doesn't deign that with a response, simply sitting in his chair and watching the monitor. "It will be interesting to see what comes up."

"Yes, I believe it will." L jingles the cuff on his wrist and stands back up. "Come, Light, we must inform the others of your finding and alert Watari for preparations."

\---

Twenty-six hours fly by. L drags him all over headquarters, preparing for P's arrival. Her room is on Misa's floor, and he and L lug several trips worth of computer equipment up the stairs into her suite. Light is stuck listening to L give Watari instructions about her arrival and doing mindless data collection to continue pulling files for her.

As he's loading financial statements to the new computer, he wonders about the name. P. Does the fact that they both have an initial for their name means she and L originated from the same place? Now that's an interesting thought. Maybe he'll finally get to learn more about L, besides the fact he grew up in England and played tennis in middle school.

That night, he asks L how they met when they're getting ready for bed. L merely lifts an eyebrow at him and raises the percentage he's Kira. Which, Light shouldn't really be surprised that that's still going on. He figures L does it solely to get on his nerves, which, if that's the case, it definitely works.

As he gets into bed, he wonders what to expect from P. Someone... quirky, like L? He remembers that L was sure to stock one of the cabinets with plenty of sugary snacks. He pictures a female version of L and shudders. Hopefully that won't be the case.

\---

The next morning, the task force is all working in the main investigation room when an alert comes up on the monitor. It makes everyone jump, except for L, who doesn't bother to look up from his laptop.

"Uh, Ryuzaki?" Matsuda says, pointing at the big screen.

L looks up. "Oh. P must have just arrived." He presses a button on his side of the table and asks for Watari to help let her in.

Light notices Aizawa and his father exchanging a look. Matsuda is watching the door in anticipation, and so is L, Light observes with a start. The next few minutes are silent, with everyone but L pretending to be working. L ignores all of this by sipping loudly on a hot chocolate.

The door creaks open, and the entire task force turns their eyes to see who is going to come through. Watari walks through first and holds the door open for the short, brunette woman walking in after him, pulling a suitcase.

She hesitates when she comes in, noticing everyone's eyes on her, but still smiles. Her gaze lands on L, and her smile grows even wider.

"L," she says, tilting her head.

"P," L mimics. He's smiling too, a small, genuine smile that Light's not sure he's ever seen before. "It's good to see you again."

"Likewise," she says. She sets her suitcase down and turns to survey the room and its inhabitants.

Light takes this moment to study her. Her accent sounds... American, and her Japanese is definitely not the strongest. But she's young, definitely younger than he expected - she only looks a few years older than him. Dressed in trim business casual with bangs and wavy brown hair left down. She looks normal, Light has to admit. Thankfully, not a female L.

L takes a moment to introduce everyone, and she inclines her head to each.

"I am P," she says, bowing. "It's nice to meet you all. I look forward to working with everyone."

"Excellent," L says. He waves a hand in the direction of Watari, who is still standing near the door. "Watari will take you and your luggage to your room. Please bring the laptop on your desk. Light has already taken the initiative to download some of the necessary public files to your drive."

She nods and follows Watari back the way she came. When the door shuts behind her, every set of eyes is immediately on L again.

"She's young," Light's father says. His eyebrows are knitted together, which Light knows means he's questioning something.

"She looks a little too young," Aizawa snaps. "How is she an expert on anything? She looks to be barely out of school!"

"I thought she seemed nice," Matsuda says, a slightly dreamy look in his eyes. Light resists the urge to roll his eyes.

"I can assure you that P is the most qualified person I know for this task," L says. "I have known her for many years and am confident in her education and work experience. She has all of the necessary certifications. And it has been many years since she has been in school."

Light shrugs. "If Ryuzaki trusts her abilities, so do I. The least we can do is give her a chance."

His father nods, and Matsuda is still staring off in the direction she left in. Mogi hasn't said a word in the whole conversation and still remains quiet. Aizawa looks frustrated but doesn't say another word, turning back to his work.

The room is silent until P comes back in, dressed in fresh clothes and with laptop bag in hand. She walks in and hesitates, obviously unsure of where to go.

Light waves her over to the empty chair next to him, and she smiles at him as she slides down into the seat.

"How was your flight?" he asks.

She pulls the laptop out of her bag and presses the power button. "Long," she says. "Almost sixteen hours. And I've been up for hours anyways. Speaking of which - L, where's the coffee maker?"

"Please refrain from calling me L," L says from the other side of Light. "Refer to me as Ryuzaki instead."

"Fine. Ryuzaki, where is the coffee pot?"

"I'll get you some!" Matsuda jumps up from the table behind them and runs out the door in the direction of the kitchen.

P looks surprised. "That works." She turns back to Light. "You're Light, right?" He nods, and she smiles. "I've heard a lot about you."

"All good, I hope," Light says back, returning her smile.

L hums. "No."

P snorts. "Don't worry, Light. I'm just here for the financials. Wait, are those... handcuffs?"

L lifts his wrist and shakes it, jingling the cuffs. Light presses his lips together and holds up his own wrist.

P looks at him with wide eyes. "Well, Ryuzaki, looks like some things never change, huh?"

Light swivels his head around to look at L, who is frozen in his seat. "What is that supposed to mean?" he chuckles gleefully.

Matsuda comes back into the room holding a large coffee mug. He sets it down beside P and smiles widely. "Here you go! I made it just like how L likes his - I hope that's okay!"

P beams up at him. "I'm sure it'll be just fine. Thank you so much, Matsuda."

Matsuda grins back at her and goes back to his seat, still smiling. Mogi whispers something that makes Matsuda flush. Aizawa rolls his eyes.

P picks up the mug and takes a sip. Immediately, she freezes, rim still at her lips. She coughs and swallows, gritting her teeth. "How much sugar is in this?" she whispers low enough so Matsuda can't hear, and Light points to the tray of stacked sugar cubes on the other side of L's laptop.

She mumbles something in English that Light can't quite make out and takes another sip. She coughs again and sets it down with a grimace.

Her computer's booted up by now, and she clicks around, starting to pull up some of the files Light had downloaded.

L stands up and walks over to look over her shoulder. "I believe you have already been debriefed on what I'd like you to do. But to reiterate, here are the public financial statements for the companies with the deceased CEOs. Please go through them and let me know if anything looks out of place. If there is evidence that these businesses are hurting Yotsuba, we want to know. Watari is working on getting the tax returns for you."

P nods. She pulls a glasses case out of her bag and slips on a pair of thick rimmed glasses. "Would you mind getting me an English-Japanese dictionary? My Japanese is still not all that great."

"On the contrary, I thought your Japanese was impressive," Light says. "How long have you been studying Japanese?"

P checks the time on her laptop. "Oh, approximately twenty-eight hours."

Light widens his eyes at that. "You've learned to speak a new language in a day and a half?!"

P smiles. "I don't know any of the Kanji. Thankfully, numbers don't ever change, so some of the other stuff doesn't matter. But if you think that's impressive, you should see some of the others."

"Others?" Light makes a mental note of this.

L clears his throat, and P gives him a sheepish smile. "Just Ryuzaki, I mean."

Light doesn't really buy that, but L goes back to his seat, P pulls out a calculator, and they all get back to work.

\---

"Ugh!"

Light shoots up instantly. He rubs his eyes, realizing he'd fallen asleep on his laptop. He can feel the imprint of the keyboard on his cheek. He looks over to his left - L is tapping away on his laptop like nothing happened. To his right, P has her head in her hands.

He clears his throat, still trying to get his bearings back. He glances at the time - 2:38AM. "Are you okay?"

"What?" P lifts up her head and gives him a weak smile. Her glasses sit askew on her face. "Oh, sorry to wake you up," she says. "I just - ugh. I think I need some more coffee."

"Why don't you go to bed?" Light says. "You had that long flight today, and you've been up for hours. I'm tired myself." He stretches in his chair, tugging on his chain so L is forced to listen.

"Light is right," L says. "You will be more efficient after some sleep."

"Yeah, yeah, you're right," P says. She shuts her laptop down and stands up, yawning. "I'll be back in the morning."

L hums, and she turns to head back to her room. Light looks at him pointedly, and L sighs, shutting his own computer.

"Very well, Light. Let's go to bed."

\---

The next morning, L and Light are a little bit late to the work room.

"If you'd set an alarm like I asked, we wouldn't have overslept!" Light says, yanking on the chain to force L to move faster.

L rolls his eyes, not as pressed as Light is to get to the work room, and jerks back to continue meandering at his own pace. "Ah, yes, because Light can't set his own alarm."

"I was already in bed!"

When they enter, their squabbling is brought to a halt. P is sitting on the table amongst the other members of the task force. She and Matsuda are laughing, and even Light's dad is smiling.

"Light!" Matsuda calls out. "Did you know P is only twenty-four?! But she has three degrees and two different certifications!"

"Wow, that's very impressive," Light says, begrudgingly a little impressed.

"I enjoyed hearing about life in the United States," Aizawa says to her. "I've never left Japan before."

"You should visit one day!" P says. "I'll take you on a tour myself."

"P," L says, a little furrow between his brows.

She holds up a hand. "I know, I know. Don't worry, nothing I've said has been concrete enough to be traced back to me, or even you."

L stays silent, disapproving. He tugs on the chain to lead back to his desk. Light has no choice but to follow.

"Ryuzaki, is it really so wrong for us to share any personal information? If P isn't a criminal, Kira has no reason to go after her. And there are so many people who live in America that the chances of someone finding her based on that alone is slim, if not impossible."

"I don't expect you to understand, Light," L says condescendingly, and Light bristles a little. "It's not just P. Every member who has worked on this task force is potentially in danger from Kira. The chances of any minor detail falling into Kira's hands is dangerous."

They sit at their stations and start to boot up their computers. L then mumbles something that sounds an awful lot like, "Must be easy to not have to worry about Kira killing you, as you are Kira."

Light yanks on his chain and sends L's hand flying across the keyboard. He ignores the scowl L shoots in his direction.

\---

"Okay Ryuzaki," P says that afternoon, "I've finished going though some of the financial statements of the companies with the dead CEOs. Let me show you what I've found so far." She casts her laptop screen to the monitor on the wall.

"These are Yotsuba's latest quarter-end financial statements. Obviously if these killings have only been going on for a short period of time, it will have zero affect on last year's financials. But as you can see from this comparative statement, the value in stock has increased since the last quarter. It looks like a significant amount on here, but that's only because this is the total value of all stock currently out in the market. If you look at the market value of each individual share, it's increased, but by a much smaller amount. I believe that's how they've stayed under the radar until now. This could support the idea that someone at Yotsuba is purposefully making decisions for the betterment of the company, or it could honestly just be good business decisions."

"Is that really what you think is happening?" Aizawa asks. "Good business decisions?"

P barks a short burst of laughter. "No. I definitely think something is fishy. If you look at these quarter-end statements for the competitors of Yotsuba, you do see numbers begin to slightly slip. All of them record in the notes the CEO's death and its effect on the company, like with some of its efficiency decreasing as operations are no longer so smooth."

"Like he said, how do we know that's not just the effects of these unforeseen deaths?" Mogi asks.

"All of these companies are direct competitors of Yotsuba. Some are long-standing competitors, but some of these American companies are actually just growing rapidly and beginning to encroach on Yostuba's business. Also, I find that all of these deaths are just too similar to be coincidental. Thirteen CEOs in only a couple of months? That's ridiculous."

"Wow!" Matsuda says. "That was really impressive, P!"

She turns in her chair and beams at him. "Thank you, Matsuda. There's more indicators, of course, but a lot of it starts getting pretty technical. I'll write an official report and send it out to everyone if Ryuzaki thinks it best." She then turns to look at L. "Your thoughts?"

"Yes, thank you very much, P. That was very enlightening." L taps his thumb to his lips. "It was already a high probability that this new Kira was a member of Yotsuba, but this does cement that theory even more. P, I want you to begin going through the Yotsuba executives' tax returns. Watari will send these copies to you shortly. Please look for similar things, but especially keep an eye out for a reason why any particular member may have been chosen to be the new Kira."

"Sure, I can do that," P says. She stops sharing her screen and shifts in her chair.

"Matsuda's right," Light leans over and says. "That was really impressive. I thought accountants only looked at taxes?"

"Actually, there's many different types of accountants. Some only do taxes, some do audits. This investigation is something forensic auditors do."

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Um, let me think." P drums her fingers on the table beside her. "If you'd like, you could help me sort through some of these tax records. I think I'm going to start with looking at their assets."

L clears his throat, and Light turns back, a little annoyed. "Light, I actually want you to assist your father in running background checks on the Yotsuba executives. Look at everything you can find - employment history, criminal records, anything that could demonstrate a potential for Kira."

Light looks back to P, who shrugs. "That's fine. You may find something more current in those records. These tax returns are for last year, so I'm only looking for any long-lasting issues that could be why Kira picked one of them."

"Well, let me know if you change your mind," Light says, beginning to gather his belongings up.

"Light, don't tell me you are considering becoming an accountant now instead of a detective?" L says casually, intense gaze focused on Light's face.

"What, would that convince you I'm becoming either more or less like Kira?" Light shoots back, turning towards him and scowling. "I just think the investigation aspect is interesting."

"Ryuzaki is just jealous of my career choices," P says, rolling her eyes. L shoots her a look, and P gives him a smile and bats her eyelashes. "Just kidding."

"Actually Light, changing your career choice to accountancy would lower your percentage of being Kira. Unless, of course, you are only doing so to throw the scent of Kira off of you. Faking interest to P in order to convince me otherwise would be an obvious move."

"Will you let that go already?!" Light says, making a disgusted noise. He jingles his chain. "Come on, if I have to go move to work with my father, you're coming with me."

L makes a sad noise and picks up his laptop, looking longingly at the tray of sweets he'll be leaving behind. P snickers, and even Light can't help the satisfied smile that flits across his face.

"Let me know if you need anything else!" P calls out cheerfully.

L grumbles.

\---

"Oh, Light!" A female voice sings from behind him.

Light fights the urge to groan and turns around. "Misa," he says by way of greeting. L and his father ignore her entrance.

"I'm so bored, Light," she whines. "Can you stop working so we can go do something?"

"No, Misa, I'm right in the middle of something. It's too early to stop for the day." He checks his watch. "It's only four."

"But Light!"

P turns around, curiously, and her movement catches Misa's eye.

"What? Another girl! Who are you?"

"My name is P," P says politely. She pushes her glasses up onto the top of her head and smiles. "You must be Misa. I've heard Light say a lot about you."

That was definitely a lie, Light knows he had done no such thing. Misa turns to him and glares. "Is she your new girlfriend?" she spits accusingly.

"What?! No!" Light says. _What the hell, Misa._

"Oh, no!" P says, looking horrified. "That's not what I meant. I'm Ryuzaki's friend, er, colleague. Light's just said a lot about you - you're his girlfriend, right?"

Misa looks momentarily sated. "Aw, Ryuzaki, I didn't know you had other friends!"

L looks offended for a brief second.

"Is she your girlfriend?"

"No."

Misa ignores him. "And Light, that's so sweet! You've been talking about me when I'm not around. All good things, right?"

"Right," P says. She shoots an apologetic look to Light, obviously not knowing the sort of reaction Misa would have had.

Misa coos. "It'll be so nice to have another girl stuck here! I've been so bored by myself. Light's always too busy for me, and Ryuzaki is always crashing our dates."

Light feels just as weary as L suddenly looks.

"We should hang out together," Misa continues. "It'll be so nice to have a friend."

"I'd like that," P says. "How about tomorrow evening? I have a lot of work to finish up today."

"Yes!" Misa beams at her, friendly now that she knows P isn't out to steal Light away. "I'll think of something fun we can do! What do you like to do?"

P waves her over to Light's empty chair next to her. "Come over here!"

Misa skips over and sits down, and soon she and P are talking animatedly about movies, wine, and other activities they can do in the confines of the tower.

Matsuda watches them in amazement. "They're getting along so well," he whispers, just loud enough for the other task force members to hear.

"They're so loud," Light says, annoyed. _But that's just women for you._

"What do you think they're going to do together?" Mogi asks. "They're so... different."

"We do have surveillance footage in all of the bedrooms," L mutters to Light, gaze firmly on watching P and Misa interact.

"I don't want to watch that," Light says, wrinkling his nose. "They're girls - they don't ever talk about anything of substance."

"They could have a pillow fight," Matsuda sighs dreamily.

"Enough of this," Light's father says, scolding. "This has gone on far enough. It's one thing to watch the bedroom recordings when investigating Kira. It's over the line to watch when this has nothing to do with that."

Nobody can argue with that, and they all slowly turn back to their respective tasks, occasionally looking up to watch the girls interact.

\---

It's late that night when Light finally gets a chance to talk to P again. When his father had retired for the day, Light had moved back to his usual workstation, prepared to be up for several more hours going through the records. Besides him (and L, who he is always with nowadays), P is the only one left in the room. And surprisingly, L is asleep, sitting upright in his chair.

He and P work companionably in silence together. But he keeps stealing glances at her, still curious at her relationship with L. She treats him with such familiarity, they must have known each other for years. He thinks about how L made all sorts of preparations for her arrival, even dragging around Light so he could help oversee them himself.

"Is there something I can help you with?" she asks, startling him out of his thoughts. She turns her gaze onto him, pushing up her glasses. "You were staring."

He blinks and chuckles in embarrassment. "Sorry, P, just lost in thought I guess."

"Anything in particular you want to talk about?"

He hesitates and looks over at L sleeping. He knows he's really sleeping and not just faking, because his mouth is hanging open, and after many, many weeks of being roommates with L, he knows all of his telltale signs of acting.

"I'm just curious about the two of you. None of us on the task force know very much about L. But you seem to know him really well." He shakes their head. "In some ways, there's almost a dissonance between the L we know, and the L you seem to know."

P hesitates. She pushes up her glasses and rubs at her nose. "You know I'm not supposed to talk about that," she says, smiling a bit, but tone a little scolding. "But professionally, I guess you could say I am L's accountant." Her smile grows wide. "Literally - I do his taxes every year."

Light smiles as is expected of him to. P doesn't seem to know any different, and she chews on the inside of her cheek for a moment before continuing.

"In actuality, I can say very little. L and I have known each other for many, many years. Once I finished with my schooling, he began occasionally calling me into cases for help with investigation, but probably not as often as you may think."

"He called you here," Light points. "Physically here. Not through a screen and voice-over."

"Like I said, I've known him for years. I know his face. There's no use in trying to hide it from me." She notices he's about to ask something else and shakes her head. "No, we're not related, either. But that would've been a good guess."

Light chuckles a little bit. "You don't happen to play tennis, do you?" He's teasing, but also a little curious if that's their background. He vaguely remembers a conversation with L about him playing tennis in junior high.

"Oh, hell no," P says, shaking her head. "I'm not a very sporty person. Have you seen me? I look like the type of person to sit behind a desk all day."

Light thinks that make sense. After all, L did say he lived in England when he played competitively, and P is American.

She stretches and stands up, effectively ending their conversation. "I think if he's willing to go to bed, it might be time to call it a night. I'm pretty tired without drinking my usual amounts of coffee."

"Matsuda has been making you coffee everyday," Light says accusingly.

She grimaces. "Are you kidding? That's a cavity in a cup. I don't know how Ryuzaki does it. Too much sugar, not enough caffeine. I drink it black, maybe two sugars if I'm feeling adventurous."

He snorts. "Now that I agree with."

She gives him a little smile, bids him goodnight, and heads on her way. Light continues to work, thinking on what she said.

It makes sense that they're so secretive. After all, he knows very little about the true L, too. He wonders what the chances are that Kira would take an interest an accountant, though. After all, what would Kira do if he had this information?

\---

The night of P's and Misa's party, Matsuda creeps over to L's and Light's table when Light's dad isn't in the room.

"What are they doing now?" he asks quietly, leaning in.

L presses a button, and up pops the live-feed of Misa's bedroom. She and P are sitting on the couch, eating popcorn and watching the latest Hideki Ryuga movie. On screen, Misa says something and P laughs. Both of their faces are covered in green clay.

L, Light, and Matsuda watch in confusion.

"What's the mask stuff?" Matsuda says.

"I don't know," Light says. "I've never seen Sayu wear anything like that."

L zooms in on the tube of the green product sitting on the coffee table. "It's a face mask," he reads, "meant to open pores and cleanse the face. May cause slight burning and peeling of the skin."

"What the hell?"

"It looks gross. Why would they want to do that to themselves?" Matsuda asks.

L shrugs, sticking his thumbnail in his mouth.

The door starts to open behind them, and L rushes to turn the video feed off. Light's dad walks in with a new drink, unaware of what was going on with his back turned. Light turns back to his laptop, pretending to get back to work.

Casually, Matsuda stands and stretches. He whistles and walks back to his seat. When he sits back down, he is still shaking his head.

Girls are weird.

\---

"Ryuzaki, I'm afraid I have some bad news," P says after another couple of days of work.

L sighs. "Go on." Light turns to look at her as well. She looks troubled, a slight furrow between her brows, and she's chewing on her lip.

"There's absolutely nothing from the tax returns that I can find that indicate any sort of issue," she says. "They're all ridiculously wealthy, and some have some offshore accounts, but that's all typical for these executives. I can't find any sort of major debt or problem that would result in one of them being bribed or blackmailed to be Kira."

"None of the executives Dad and I went through had any sort of criminal record," Light adds.

P nods. "That doesn't surprise me. It's unlikely someone with any sort of criminal background, especially if the crime was white-collar, would progress through the ranks of a business and end up in the C-Suite. Unless they formed their own business, but that's not really the case with Yotsuba."

"What are your thoughts on how to proceed next, then?"

"I think it'll be impossible to determine who Kira is with some year-old taxes. But what do I know?"

L chews on his thumb nail, processing.

"If I were you, I'd probably do something more hands-on," she continues. "Actually go to Yotsuba headquarters and investigate. Bug some of their offices. But I know nothing about investigations. Or if that's even possible. Or legal, I should say." She turns to give a sheepish smile to the others. "Sorry, Chief Yagami."

Matsuda makes a noise to get her attention, and P turns to look. "Don't worry, P," he says. "I think all of your findings are still helpful, even if it's just narrowing something down further!"

"Thank you," P says, giving him a small smile. She turns back to L, whose gaze has finally landed on her instead of his laptop screen. "Well?"

"Your assistance has been very helpful in confirming some of my suspicions," L says finally. "It is of no big surprise to me that there is no evidence of Kira choosing one of the executives. Kira would be too careful of that." His eyes flash over to Light. "Nevertheless, I came to the same conclusion when I reviewed the files, so it was useful to confirm from an expert's view there is nothing."

"Do you think the selection of one of the Yotsuba executives was random?" Light says. "It just happened to be someone from the company? After all, we don't exactly know how Kira spreads. If it's unconscious, then there wouldn't be any evidence of a purposeful selection, right?"

"I don't know," P says. "Are you saying Kira is a power, or a transferring consciousness, not one single person?"

"It's just an idea," Light says. "Ryuzaki and I have briefly discussed it before."

P turns disbelieving eyes onto L. "Are you actually considering something supernatural for this? Seriously?! I'm surprised at you."

L ignores that. "Thank you for all of your help, P," he says, "I think that will be all we need your help for."

P shuts her laptop. "You're not kicking me out now, are you?" she teases.

L gives her a wry smile.

"I know, I know," she says dramatically. "This happens every time. I help you on a case, and as soon as it's solved, I'm forcibly booted."

"Ryuzaki, don't you think that's kind of cruel?" Matsuda says, jumping up and running over to their table. "After all, P's helped a lot over the past two weeks."

"Oh, Matsuda, I'm just teasing," P says. She stands up and grabs her bag. "This isn't my job. I'm not a cop, or a detective, or anything that remotely resembles law enforcement. I'm just a consultant on this. And actually, I'm technically on vacation from my real job back home. Ryuzaki called in a few favors to get me here."

"Oh," Matsuda says, smiling sheepishly. He rubs the back of his hair and flushes red. "Well, in that case, we'll miss having you around! Or I will at least."

"I'll miss having someone make my coffee for me in the morning," P laughs. "I've enjoyed getting to meet everyone. Even you, Kira," she says, winking at Light.

Light doesn't really find that funny, but he pretends he does solely to watch L's face twist in displeasure.

"If you go talk to Watari, he will be more than happy to assist with transportation home," L says. He hesitates for a moment. "P, before you go, I'd like you to come speak with me."

She nods and heads off to go pack. Matsuda heads back to his seat, where Mogi teases him about that interaction and makes his cheek burn red again.

L resumes tapping through his files on the Yotsuba group, lost in thought. Light joins him in silence.

\---

It's after dinnertime when L drags Light up to P's room. They move carefully past Misa's rooms, where Light prays they're quiet enough that Misa won't come out and spot him.

L knocks and then enters P's room. She's packing up her suitcase, clothes littered all over the room. The monitor set-up on her desk has been neatly taken down and stacked in piles on her desk.

"Hey, Ryuzaki, Light," she says, setting down the pair of pants she's folding. "Do you need something?"

"I thought you were leaving tonight?" Light asks, following L to come sit on the couch. L sits in his usual crouch, hands wrapped around his ankles.

"No, the earliest flight out is tomorrow morning. Actually, I may go out and sightsee a little bit. I've never been to Japan before and really haven't seen much of it besides the airport and this building." She frowns. "If that's possible, of course. But if you two came in here for my help I can definitely stay."

"We don't need any more assistance on the case," L says. "I came to talk to you before you left. I would like a moment of privacy, if you please, Light."

Light blinks at L and holds up his wrist, dangling the handcuffs. Without a word, L digs around in his back pocket and pulls out a pair of headphones, handing them to Light.

P looks more confused than anything, but she walks over to sit across from them in one of the chairs. Light puts the headphones on. L says something to him, which he can't hear. He stares uncomprehendingly.

L turns to P and says something, and P gives Light a thumbs up. She turns her attention back to L and says something else.

Light's never been really good at reading lips, which is honestly pretty irritating to him at this moment. It'll definitely be something he'll have to work on, because he wants nothing more to learn what L and P are saying. He can only make out a few words - Yotsuba, Kira, his name, once or twice.

He reaches up to touch his hair and ever so slightly knocks the earbud out of place. L and P are talking in English, which takes him a minute to process.

"I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary," P is saying. "He is a smart kid, but I don't see any bizarrely evil -"

L looks over at him and notices the askew earbud. Without a word, he reaches over and adjusts it back in place, and Light is cut off again.

Light scowls at him. L merely turns back to P.

After mentally translating P's words, he wants nothing more than to roll his eyes and yell. Of course they're talking about him being Kira. But what good would P know about that, as an accountant? He considers for a moment the accountant role as being a cover, and P is simply a shrink or psychological analyst playing a part to observe him, but he discards that notion. Her level of financial literacy was beyond that of a simple acting role.

Still, strange. Why would L care so much about what P thinks?

P suddenly smiles, throwing her head back in laughter. L is smiling too, eyes bright. She points a finger at him, eyebrows raised, but the big smile remains in place.

L's face grows serious in a moment, and the smile on P's face slowly slips. L tilts his head forward, chin resting on his knees. Light has no clue what he could've said to make the mood suddenly shift like this.

P's eyes turn glassy, but she blinks rapidly and the moment is over. She holds out a hand to L, but doesn't look too upset when he doesn't take it. She merely lowers it back to her lap and says something else.

L nods and gestures towards Light. P turns towards him and mimics pulling off the headphones, which he does.

"I'm sorry for the inconvenience, Light," L says in Japanese, tone anything but contrite. "I couldn't help but notice your earphone wasn't in properly for a moment there, so I took it upon myself to correct it. I hope you don't mind."

Light fights the urge to roll his eyes. "Not at all, Ryuzaki," he says, forcing an air of lightness into his voice. "I understand that as friends you two would want a moment to yourselves before P leaves again. Next time you could even take the handcuffs off and have even more privacy."

"Nice try," L says.

"Sorry, Light," P says, a slight waver to her voice. "I bet that was boring for you."

Light studies her for a moment. Whatever she and L discussed, it was obviously still affecting her.

L seems to notice Light's observation in progress, because he says, "P, now that you are officially off the case, you are welcome to go wherever you'd like. Would you like someone to guide you?"

"Actually, Misa volunteered to take me out," she says. "Would you like to come with? Light, she really wanted you to join us on a date."

Light looks at L, who seems to realize at the same time that a date meant he would also have to tag along. Light assumes the same horrified look is reflected on his own face.

"That's okay," Light says, a little too quickly. "Have fun with Misa."

L nods vigorously, for once in strong agreement.

P shrugs. "Your loss. She says she knows all of the best places. You know, she is very charming. You must count yourself lucky to be dating a girl like that! She told me she's an up and coming model."

He makes a polite noise, and then there's a knock on the door. He can't help the slight stiffening of his back. L curls in on himself more.

"Come in," P calls, and the door opens to reveal Misa.

"Light!" she cries, launching herself across the room and onto his lap. Her foot lands on his and L's chain, and it jerks L forward so he faceplants into Light's chest. "Oh, hi Ryuzaki."

"Hi Misa," L says, voice muffled by Light's chest.

"Get off," Light says, pushing L off of him completely and Misa down to his side.

"P, are you almost ready to go?" Misa says, turning her attention off of the boys. "Wait, you're not wearing that, are you?"

P looks down at her outfit. For once, she's not in her usual style of business casual, but in jeans and a thick grey sweater. "What's wrong with this?"

"If we're going out on the town, you gotta dress up!" Misa hops up off the couch and over to P's suitcase, where she starts digging through the piles of folded clothes.

P opens her mouth as if to say something and then promptly closes it as Misa groans.

"You don't have anything cute!" Misa complains. "Don't you have anything but business clothes?"

"Not really," P says. "This was a work trip for me."

Misa taps on her cheek for a moment, thinking. "I know! You can borrow some of my clothes."

"Oh, no," P says, shaking her head rapidly. "I couldn't do that."

"Don't worry about it!" Misa chirps, coming over to grab P's hand. "I have plenty of outfits."

P gives Misa's risqué outfit another once-over and turns to L and Light with wide eyes.

"Come on!" Misa says. "Let's go!" She starts dragging P towards the door and pauses in the doorway, turning back to L and Light. "Light, Ryuzaki, you should come with us! It'll be soooo much fun."

L and Light exchange a quick glance.

"No way," Light says. L shakes his head rapidly. "We have work to do. For the case."

"Yes," L agrees quickly. "Another time."

Misa pouts, sticking out her bottom lip. "You're no fun! And Light, you still owe me a date soon. Don't think I haven't forgotten!"

Light says, resisting the urge to rub his forehead where a headache is rapidly developing. "No, I haven't forgotten." _Though I wish you would._

Misa beams and drags P out of the door, who is still wearing an slightly bemused and concerned expression.

L and Light sit in silence for a moment, recovering from the hurricane that is Misa.

Finally, L moves, stretching out from his hunched position. "Come, Light," he says. "When need to go look busy."

\---

"Oh, Light!"

Light immediately stiffens. He and L had gone back to their work stations after leaving P's room. He hears Aizawa groan from the table behind his.

Gritting his teeth, he turns around, only to see a beaming Misa and an uncomfortable-looking P standing in the doorway. His gaze slides to P, and he almost chokes.

"What did you do to P?!" he accuses, and all of the other task force members turn around.

P's face pales considerably, and she pulls a leather jacket tighter over her chest. She wears a pair of Misa's thigh-high tights with a poofy black skirt. A scuffy pair of black combat boots cover her feet.

Matsuda spews his drink from the table in front of them, and Mogi pounds him on the back as he coughs. L has an abject look of horror on his face.

Misa frowns. "I think she looks cute! Ryuzaki is letting us go out on the town tonight. I'm gonna show her all the sights!"

"This is not really what I'm used to, Misa," P says softly. "Are you sure I can't go back and change? It looks so cute on you, but I'm not sure I'm... confident enough to pull this off."

"Don't be silly, you look great!" Misa says encouragingly. "Ryuzaki, we're heading out now."

L closes his eyes. "That's fine. Take someone with you. Mogi, go -"

"No, I'll go!" Matsuda interrupts, jumping up.

L looks at him, unamused. "Fine. Matsuda will accompany you."

"We don't need a babysitter!" Misa protests.

"No, I don't mind, really!" Matsuda says. He grabs his jacket off of the back of his chair and walks over to stand with them in the doorway.

"Aw, okay, Matsi," Misa says, smiling at him. "I can't be mad at you. This is all mean old Ryuzaki's fault." She shoots a glare in L's direction. "Let's go then!"

Linking her arm through P's, she pulls her out the door. P gives one last pleading glare to L, but soon she disappears. Matsuda follows happily after them.

L waits a few moments. "Mogi, please go follow them. I can't see Matsuda being very aware of his surroundings anymore."

Mogi and Aizawa snicker, but Mogi gathers up his things and leaves the room.

Light takes a moment to pity P, but mostly he's grateful that he's not being dragged along. He can tell L is thinking the same thing.

\---

He doesn't see P again until the next morning, who comes to headquarters surprisingly bright-eyed. Thankfully, she's back in normal business wear, dragging her suitcase by her side.

"Good morning," she says, holding up a coffee cup in greeting. "I thought I'd stop by one last time before I head out."

"I'm surprised you survived last night," L says, swiveling his chair around to face her. "I had my doubts."

"I haven't partied that hard since college," she says brightly. "I feel old."

"What exactly did you do?" Light asks, curious. Partying with Misa was something he has thankfully avoided thus far in their relationship.

She smiles. "I think we went clubbing more than sightseeing. It was fun!" She laughs for a moment. "Speaking of which, someone might want to check on Matsuda this morning. Something tells me he's going to wake up with a nasty hangover. It's a good thing Mogi showed up when he did." She turns a knowing look to L.

"Where's Misa?"

"I think she's still sleeping it off. Light, be sure to tell her thanks for me. She was a good hostess." She takes a sip of coffee and smiles, thinking of something amusing from the night before.

"Are you really about to head out?" Light says. "What time is your flight?"

P checks her watch." Oh, it's not for another couple of hours, but I like to get to the airport early. Type A personality and all that."

"Watari will accompany you to the airport," L says. "He'll give you back your personal cell phone and laptop when you leave."

"Perfect," P says. She picks up the handle of her suitcase and smiles. "Thanks again for calling me on this case. I enjoyed working with you again, Ryuzaki."

L nods. "This may be our last case together for a long time," he says solemnly. "It was nice to see you one last time."

P's smile loses some of its happiness. "You say that like you're going to die soon," she says, forcing a laugh. "None of that negative talk. Just, call me if you need anything, okay?"

L nods and turns back around to his computer.

"You too, Light," P says, which surprises Light a little bit. She must can read the surprise on his face, because she smiles a little at him. "What? That would've been rude of me to leave you out after you helped me for two weeks."

"Thanks, P," he says. "Have a safe flight home."

"That's our of my hands, but one can hope," she says. With one final goodbye, she heads out.

L sits motionless at his computer.

"Ryuzaki, are you okay?"

"Yes," he says softly. "But there is an eighty-six percent chance that this will be the last time P and I ever work together."

"Don't worry about that," Light says. "With her help on the Yotsuba group, we're one step closer to catching Kira."

"Yes, you could be right," L says. He presses a button and up pops live surveillance footage of Watari helping P load her luggage into a limo. She throws her head back and laughs on screen. L watches wistfully. "I hope this is the case."

Just as quickly as he turned it on, L shuts the video feed. "Come, Light," he says. "We have work to do."


	2. Next Steps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After L's death, there are many conversations to be had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some of the dialogue in this chapter comes from episode 27 of the anime. Again, please R&R!

Light has been L for almost three months, and he relishes every second of it. After all, who would accuse L, the greatest detective in the world and leader of the task force to find Kira, as Kira?

It's almost too good to be true sometimes. It even makes him giddy to think about. Having his power back, all of his memories. The pressure of having L breathing down his neck gone. The task force who mindlessly follows him just as they did L.

It's golden. All of it.

He can finally relax. His work is never done, as there are always criminals to write off, but nobody of consequence knows the truth about L.

That is, until he starts getting texts from a random number demanding for him to respond. They come to L's phone, never to his, so he figures it's from either a wannabe client or an old colleague on a previous case.

At first the texts are polite, and he doesn't worry.

**It's almost time for my work to begin. Send me your information soon.**

**Hey, just checking in. Did you get my last message? I still need your documents.**

That's the beauty of being L. He doesn't have to take any cases he doesn't want to anymore. It isn't out of character to just not respond. And so he doesn't.

But the texts keep rolling in, and then they start to become hounding. It irritates him.

**Is something wrong? Why won't you answer my texts?**

**You really want me to just not file this year? Great. You're only hurting yourself.**

**Get back to me. Now.**

He tries to trace the location, but the signal is encrypted. Even the police force's resources can't help him, and he's not desperate (or stupid) enough to go to Interpol. That wouldn't look good for his image.

And finally, one day, the number begins to call. He lets L's phone ring once, twice, three times before he picks up. He makes sure the voice modulator is on and waits.

"L?" A female voice says on the other side. "You better have a damn good reason of not answering my texts. And Watari isn't picking up, either! I've been going crazy here! I've had half a mine to tattle to Roger on you."

"P?" Light says, more surprised than anything.

There's silence on the other end.

"You never have your modulator on with me. Who is this?"

Light switches the modulator off. "P, this is Light Yagami. Do you remember me?"

"Light?" P sounds confused. "Of course I remember you. What's going on? What are you doing answering L's phone?"

He checks his watch. It's mid-morning for him, so in America it must be pretty late. "This is actually going to be a really long conversation," he says. "Do you have some time to talk?"

It all makes sense now. The files the texts talked about must be L's taxes. Light assumes their texts ambiguity was to catch anyone who had L's phone. Which worked, in this case.

"I can tell this is about to be bad news," she says, sucking in a breath. "Let me go sit down."

This whole situation is reminding him of that female FBI agent. What was her name again... Naomi Misora, right? He sees the threat in this instantly. She knew L, the real L. She will know he is the new L, because if he doesn't let her talk to him, she would get suspicious. He needs to take her out.

On the other hand, P is an accountant who worked with L for two weeks on the Kira investigation. Finding Higuchi, no less. Is it even an issue to leave her alive? Ha, look at him. His time without his memories made him weak. The old Light Yagami wouldn't have hesitated to kill someone who posed a threat to him.

He remembers how she and Misa were friends. If he could convince her to come back to Japan, Misa could use the eyes to catch her real name. They could have insurance on her, in case she poses a threat later.

"Actually," Light says, trying to sound apologetic. "I hate to ask this of you, but do you think you can come to Japan in the next few days? There's a lot I think I could show you. In person, I mean."

She pauses on the other end of the line. "Sorry, no," she says slowly. "It's Busy Season right now, for my real job at least. It's one of the reasons why I'm calling you so late on my end, because I'm only just now getting done with work for the day. You know how it goes - tax deadlines are coming up." She laughs, but there's an edge to it now.

Did L warn her somehow that this would happen? He thinks of the conversation he wasn't privy to, where P became sad so quickly. Now he realizes that L was right about never working with, or seeing, her again. He had to have warned her!

"I really think it would be best for you to come to Japan," he says firmly.

"No need," P says bluntly. "L's dead, right?"

Light grits his teeth. Damn this woman. "Yes. He was killed by Kira in November."

"Was anyone else on the task force killed at the same time?"

"No. Just L."

P sucks in a breath and pauses for a moment. The seconds drag. When she finally speaks again, her voice is shaky. "I'm sorry if I was being rude, Light," she says, the edge gone from her voice. "I wish I could come, but I truly won't be able to until after April. Can you tell me what happened?"

Light doesn't really want to have this conversation, but it's best to keep up appearances. He tells her about the case after she left: the discovery of Higuchi (she says she saw his death in the papers), the strange findings of the Death Note and Shinigami, L's and Watari's sudden deaths, and then about the resulting chaos in the task force. She listens quietly, only occasionally making a surprised noise.

When he's done, she lets out a long breath. "I'm not going to lie," she says. "I'm having a hard time believing some of this. I mean, I thought you and L were crazy for thinking something supernatural was going on. Shinigami, notebooks that kill people - come on. That just sounds silly!"

"I wouldn't believe it myself if I hadn't seen Higuchi use it," Light lies.

"If you don't mind me asking, how come you are the new L?"

"He left it to me. He even told it to the task force as backup. Believe me, I was just as surprised as you."

P doesn't say anything about that. She just lets out another long, shaky breath. Light wonders if she's crying on the other end. "He knew it would come," she says solemnly. "He warned me of it. And of his suspicions. I'm sure you remember - when he made you wear those nasty headphones?"

"Yeah, I remember. And his suspicions... you mean how he thought I was Kira, don't you?"

P laughs weakly. "That's the one. But I take it you've been cleared now, right? If you're answering L's phone, you must have taken over his position. He wouldn't have let you take over if you were Kira."

"The task force cleared me after the rules in the Death Note proved that I couldn't have been Kira from my time in isolation." Light can't help the warm pulse of satisfaction rush down his spine. His plan had worked, down to every last minor detail, and he was still gleeful over it.

"Well, that's good news," P says. "No offense."

Light does get annoyed at that, but he pushes past it. "None taken. I hope you don't mind, P, but I have a few questions for you as well."

"Oh?"

"After Watari's death, the papers released an article with his obituary. There was even a section on his orphanages." Light trails off, waiting for P to fill in the blanks.

"Oh, I see. Yes, L and I grew up in the same orphanage. Quillish Wammy, or Watari as you knew him, founded many orphanages all over the world, but one in particular was built solely for gifted children. They call it Wammy's House. Every child there is special. Either a genius, or ridiculously talented at some task or another."

"So you and L were friends at this Wammy's," he says slowly, mulling over her words. It makes sense - the familiarity they shared could have only been cultivated from years of growing up and working together.

She laughs. "We didn't really start out as friends. L didn't like the other kids. I think that, even as a kid, he was on a whole different level than some of us. And I arrived at the orphanage a couple of months after he did. I was a really shy child, and I hated interacting with the others. The kids tried to be nice to both of us, but I think we both separately made it kind of hard. Who knows? You met him. He was socially awkward. But so was I. I think I just sat near him, doing puzzles, and he never really ran me off. And then when I got older and started coming into my own, he was already gone and solving cases. But he reached out and ended up telling me he wanted me to specialize in something so I could be a consultant for him." He can practically see her shrug. "It just sort of happened, honestly. From then on I went to school, and when I graduated, started helping out on cases."

Light can see L manipulating P into doing his bidding, but he doesn't tell her that. L "You don't seem very shy," he says instead.

She snorts. "Business school kind of beats that out of you."

"Do you know L's real name? Why the initials?" Light asks curiously.

"No child goes by their real name. Everyone has a nickname and several aliases to use. P isn't actually my real name, but I think you are smart enough to know that. They took P from Puzzle, which was my nickname when I first arrived as that was all I wanted to do. And, in a way, some of accounting is still like a puzzle, so it still seems to fit." She snorts. "But yes, to get back to your question, I do know L's real name. I think I may be one of the few that does, actually, and it's only because he had to trust someone to do his taxes. It's L Lawliet."

Light sits for a moment, frozen. "You mean to tell me L was his real name all along?" He feels the anger rush at having it so close under his nose, and then begrudging respect, because that was exactly the sort of trick L would use.

P laughs. "Kind of genius, right?"

"I'll say." Even with the annoyance, Light still feels a strange sense of power with knowing L's real name. He's dead, it's not like he can do anything with it. But damn, if that knowledge doesn't feel good.

"I really should go soon," P says. "I'm glad we got to talk. But one more thing you should think about - if you're planning on acting as L, you need to reach out to Roger at Wammy's and keep up the facade. Otherwise, L's successors will be coming for you. Though, if L left it to you, I wonder if he communicated that to Wammy's..."

"L's successors?" Light's internal gloating comes to an abrupt halt.

"What, you think he wouldn't have any? See, before L, Wammy's was just an orphanage for these special kids. But after he became the world's greatest detective, it transitioned into creating backup successors for when he died. For the children who weren't smart enough for that job, or for those who weren't interested, which was most of us, we were all encouraged to specialize into a useful skill that L could call on if he ever needed knowledge on it for a case. Hence the accounting consulting for the Yotsuba group. But the ones who are meant to be his successors - watch out for them. I hear they're an incredible bunch this year."

"Thanks for the heads up," Light says. "This has been a very... informative conversation."

"Thanks for telling me about L," she says. "Next time, answer the damn phone."

He chuckles, but inside his mind is racing. "I'll keep you updated if anything further develops on the Kira case."

"Sure. Let me know if you need my help on anything. Take care, Light."

He hangs up the phone and presses the bridge of his nose, shutting his eyes tight.

P's not a threat. If anything, she's a useful resource for knowledge on Wammy's. But L's successors... that may prove a coming problem.

No matter. Let them come. If he can beat the true L, it will be no problem to annihilate the backups.

\---

P hears the click of Light's phone and slowly lowers her own. She turns to Roger, who is staring off at the far wall of his office. Mello sits in the chair next to her, slumped down so far his chin rests on his chest. Near sits a few feet away from them on the ground, fiddling with a blank white puzzle.

"Well?" she says. "What do you think?"

"He's definitely Kira," Mello says darkly. "He killed L just to take his place. I refuse to believe that L appointed _him_ as his successor. That was supposed to be mine!"

"Or Near's," Roger says sharply, turning his attention onto the scowling boy. "We knew something wasn't right when Watari sent us all of the records. L has never been one to keep us in the loop, but the fact that we hadn't been able to get in touch with him only proved that something was wrong this time. It's truly a shame."

"This is all Light Yagami's fault!" Mello spits again, sitting upright in his chair and jamming a finger towards the phone.

"P, tell us about the Light Yagami you worked with while investigating the Yotsuba group." Near doesn't look at her, but she can practically see the wheels turning in his mind.

"He was definitely different than over the phone just now. That Light was a little softer, and a lot less demanding." She sighs and taps her fingers on her lap. "And I don't see why he would make me come to Japan just for that phone call."

"L had some notes describing Light's personality shift that only started after he picked up the Death Note." Near tries to put down a piece that doesn't fit, and he makes a sharp noise of unhappiness. He turns to face the others finally, dark eyes slightly narrowed. "This isn't enough evidence to convict him of being Kira."

"I can't believe we're going to keep letting him be L!" Mello throws up his hands and glares at Near. "That is the shittiest idea I've heard in a long time."

"Language, Mello," Roger admonishes. "Though, I partially agree. I don't believe it was safe to tell him about L's successors."

"By doing this, you put him on the offensive," Near says patiently. "If Yagami is Kira, he is more likely to come after us with the Death Note to cover his tracks. And if he's on the offensive, he's more likely to make a mistake."

"He already knew about Wammy's from the papers, anyway," P says to Roger. "How come so much information was leaked in Watari's obituary?"

"I'll handle that leak," Roger promises. "Listen, Mello. You too, Near. L didn't choose a successor amongst the two of you before he died. You know this already."

"Yeah, he chose goddamn Kira," Mello mumbles. P tries to fight down her smile.

Roger ignores him. "Why don't you two work together instead?"

"What?!" Mello jumps up from his chair at that, and even Near looks up in shock. "You can't be serious!"

"What do you say?" Roger says.

"Alright." Everyone turns to look at Near. Near places another piece down onto the puzzle and purposefully avoids everyone's gaze. "Sounds good."

"It'll never work, Roger," Mello says, clenching his fists tight. "We can't do this together. You know I don't get along with Near. We've always competed against each other. Always."

Near doesn't say a word, and Roger sighs, already defeated.

"Hold on, Mello," P says. He turns to look at her, glaring firmly. She holds up her hands in mock surrender. "I know you don't know me. Hell, I don't even think we've met before today. But I did know L. He wanted to find Kira, so much so that he lost his life doing so. I think he would have wanted you two to work together to finish what he couldn't. Leave the successor thing out of it. Right now, our main concern should be finding out whether Light Yagami is Kira, with proper evidence, and if he is, taking him down."

Mello growls and turns his face away. "It's easy for you to say," he says, sneering. "You were never a successor."

"No," she says mildly. "You're right. But I know you two have a better chance going after him together than you do alone. L alone wasn't enough for the case. You two, working together, might be."

"P is right," Near says quietly. He twists a lock of his hair, the only thing betraying his thoughts on the matter. His face is devoid of expression, but his fingers fly while curling his hair. "If you can't win the game, or if you can't solve the puzzle, then you're just a loser."

"Fine!" Mello curls his lip and whirls on Near. "Don't think I like this," he snarls. "I'm only doing this for L's sake. This successor business isn't over yet! That position will be mine." He stomps out of the room and slams the door shut.

"That was magnificent," Roger says to P. "I've been trying to wrangle Mello to listen for years, and you did it in the span of two minutes. Do you need a job working with children?"

P snorts. "No thanks, Roger. But I think he'll come around. At least, I hope he does."

Near stares at the doorway Mello stormed out of. "P," he says, "I find it likely that Yagami will reach out to you for more details in the future. Please keep me and Mello aware of any further conversations you have with him."

"Of course," P says. "That's a given."

Near nods, satisfies, and begins to pick up his puzzle. P watches longingly as he takes it with him when he leaves.

"I'm truly impressed, P," Roger says. "I was convinced Mello was going to leave Wammy's."

"At least this will buy you some time until the whole successor things will have to be sorted out," she says. She stands and stretches, putting her phone in her suit pocket. "Do you mind if I tell you a secret, Roger?"

"A secret?"

"Yes. Don't tell Mello this, but I don't think L would've cared to make them work together. I think he was just waiting to see who would prove themselves more as they got older. Or, he was convinced he wouldn't need a successor." P shrugs. "With L, it could've been either one."

Roger sighs. "You're probably right. Please be careful out there, P. If L can be killed, what hope is there for the rest of us, hmm?"

P smiles. "Don't worry about me. I have made myself indispensable to Light Yagami. Take care of those boys."

She leaves Roger's office, walking slowly down the halls she grew up in. "Look at the mess you've made, L," she murmurs to herself, thinking back to one of their last conversations.

\---

"Ryuzaki, what are you doing?"

L sits crouched on the couch across from her, next to Light. Light wears a pair of tangled headphones, staring at L in confusion.

"Light, say nothing if you are Kira," L says.

Light blinks at him, uncomprehending.

L turns back to P. "He is unable to hear us." Satisfaction oozes out of every pore. "Tell him we're good to start."

P gives Light a thumbs up.

"P, this is going to be important, so please remember every word I am going to say. Tell me, what are your initial thoughts on Light?"

"He seems like normal, if not incredibly intelligent, teenage boy. He's polite to his father, to the other task force members, to me, even though we only meet a couple of weeks ago. I didn't really notice anything out of the ordinary," she says slowly. "He is a smart kid, but I don't see any bizarrely evil-"

Light suddenly turns away from her and narrows his eyes at Light. He reaches over and shoves the headphone back into Light's ear, giving him an unamused look. Light scowls, and L turns back to her.

"Continue."

She lifts her shoulders. "I am not the person you need to come to if you need a psychological reading on someone."

He smiles at her. "Laugh like I said something amusing."

She throws her head back and laughs, doing her best to be convincing. "You know, I'm not the best actress, either," she says through her smile, pointing an accusing finger at L.

His smile becomes slightly more genuine at that. "I value your opinion. But P, listen to me. There's an eighty-seven percent chance I am going to be killed on this case. It's an even higher probability that Light is the original Kira, but that he doesn't remember any of it anymore. I think this will change the closer we get to catching the Yotsuba Kira."

P can't help but let her smile fall at that. L leans toward her, resting his chin on his knees.

"If, no, when, Kira kills me, please contact Roger at Wammy's. Every so often, reach out to me. I will say the code word 'Puzzle' to symbolize that it is truly me you're communicating with. If for any reason I do not reply with this, immediately contact Roger. He will start moving the next steps of my plan in motion."

"You can't be serious, L," P says. Her traitorous eyes fill up with tears. "You can't die. You have so much left to do." She sticks out her hand towards him, trying to ignore the slight waver. "Promise me this."

He stares at her solemnly and doesn't say a word.

She slowly lowers her hand and glares at him. "If I could kick your ass without accidentally fighting Light, I would." She blinks rapidly, trying to ignore the burn of Light's gaze on her face.

"You may tell Light we are finished. Remember what I've said, P. Our success vary well may depend on it."

P turns to Light and mimes pulling off the headphones. Immediately, L is turning towards him and snarking. Light doesn't take the bait.

P can barely force herself to listen to their words, L's words ringing in her ears. _When Kira kills me. When Kira kills me. When Kira kills me..._

She prays he's wrong.

\---

"You should've promised me, L," she says out loud, ignoring the strange looks a couple of passing kids give her. "We wouldn't have to do this without you if you had."

She walks to the end of the hallway and throws open the doors. It's a bright, sunny day, and her car sits in an empty parking lot.

"Let's go, P," she says to herself. "We have work to do."

**Author's Note:**

> I think the concept of Wammy's is fascinating, though we don't meet many of the other graduates in the anime. Of course, we know L, Mello, Near (and Linda the artist, of course, who is the one who draws the pictures of Near and Mello for Light). We know very little about X, Y, and Z, who are described as helping L on a case before. Then there's talk of A and BB in the LA Murder Cases, and K in L: Change the World. I actually just watched the L: Change the World movie, where we see L in contact with several other graduates of Wammy's - with initials like F, H, and P. (There's more, of course, but the list shows several who are deceased and we never hear any more about the others).
> 
> This idea came from that. P is one of the people we know exists (based on that movie), but we know nothing about them. So I turned her into this: another genius, but an accounting (or financial) specialist. We know that Linda was a very talented artist, so it makes sense that the other Wammy kids could have other talents or specialities. Plus, I like the idea that those that aren't L's successors all intensely specialize in other topics so they can assist on cases if he needs someone with expertise. And bam! This idea of P was born.
> 
> Of course, Light doesn't know anything about Wammy's at this time. But he will in the future...
> 
> This may potentially turn into a series of one-shots (I have a few other ideas for P), but I am going to go ahead and mark it as complete. If this gets popular, I may do a series focusing on several of the other Wammy graduates we never learn about in canon. But we'll see how this one turns out first!
> 
> Reviews and discussion are always welcome! :)


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